Rebuilding
by Reaching for Stars
Summary: Vincent and Yuffie decide to remodel Vincent's house, as well as Nibelheim. Yuffentine. Rated K plus for now.
1. Chapter 1

Now, before I forget to mention this: I do not own FF7. If I owned FF7, Vincent and Yuffie would officially be a couple, and Reno would appear shirtless at some point during Advent Children. Kapeesh? (Yes, I KNOW it's not spelt that way. That's how I spell it, because you weirdos invented a spelling that DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.) Oh, and I don't own the characters, storyline, or anything at all. Just my computer and any other new stuff.  
So don't sue me!!  
Another sidenote: I'm sorry if I make a mistake as to places and dates and stuff from FF7 and DoC or anything. I've never played the games; only watched the movie. So inaccuracy is kind of unavoidable, but if you spot a mistake don't be mean about it. Just tell me nicely and I'll fix it. (if possible)  
Thanks, and now you can finally enjoy the read. Hopefully. :P

It was an unusually bright night, and Yuffie couldn't help but notice the swarms of fireflies glistening under the stars. It was the middle of summer; the best time to travel.  
Tourists walked around totally oblivious, carrying wallets that were much to heavy. Yuffie had taken it upon herself to save the poor tourists, especially the ones carrying materia.  
Not only that, but it was warm at night, and you could sleep pretty much whereever. If you were in the country there was bound to be some kind of food lying around, and you could just help youself if you only took a bit.  
But the best part was that everyone was home this summer.  
Cid and Shera had let her stay for about a week in Rocket Town, then she'd gone to Midgar to stay with Tifa and the kids. Cloud was still in the church mostly, although he was plannin to move out soon. She'd stayed there for two nights, too; swimming in Aerith's pool more than she slept and keeping Cloud up until, frustrated, he went back to the bar to sleep.  
Next, she decided to go to Cosmo Canyon to visit Red. Her decisions weren't really founded on convenience, but, like many of her plans, were spur-of-the-moment impulses. She'd stayed at Cosmo for three weeks, because Reeve and Barrett had been staying there, too.  
Now, she was on her way to see one last person.  
She'd wanted to visit him earlier, but figured she'd get teased. Plus, Godo was currently really pissed at her (she'd dropped a live fish down the back of an important visitor in a wheelchair with the initials R.S.) and if she could wait the last bit out with Vince, that would be awesome.  
Godo usually needed about three months to calm down; she'd been away for two. So, she was either going to stay with Vinnie or drop in on Reno and Rude, or maybe Elena. The Turks were surprisingly fun once you got to know them. At least, Reno was. Elena and Rude were quieter, but they came in handy when somebody wanted to beat the crap out of the troublemaking half of the group.  
She was getting closer to the town, which was currently in the process of being rebuilt. The only complete building was the mansion, and it looked like something out of a horror movie. Something Yuffie intended to change.  
She made her way over, past half-constructed houses and dozing workers, skipping up the steps and ringing the doorbell loudly.

Vincent muttered a few obscenities at the sound of the doorbell. He was in the middle of cooking his dinner, for goodness' sake. He didn't need the stupid workers and tourists ringing his doorbell for trivial nothings when he was weilding a rather large chopping knife.  
Taking the knife with him (out of absentminded annoyance, not out of a particular desire to kill whoever was disturbing him), he opened the door.

"AAAAH! Oh, okay, hi Vinny. Sorry, I saw the knife before I saw you. Heheh." Yuffie giggled nervously, brown eyes widened slightly. She looked sheepish, but was still bouncing and moving and twitching like she usually was.  
Just his luck. _I almost would have preffered a tourist...no, not really. I suppose Yuffie's not that bad. Probably just had a little too much sugar. _He thought.  
"Hello...You've been travelling?" Vincent asked, motioning at the suitcase with gloved hand. He didn't wear the gauntlet when he was home; it became tedious. Besides, he'd decided that his fighting attire didn't always_ have _to be worn. He wasn't growing lazy, just tired of the stares. Tired of the fighting.  
"Heh, yup! Godo got mad at me 'cause I put a fish in Rufus' shirt. Speaking of shirts, that's a nice one, Vincey. Where's the cloak? Did it finally fall into little bits or is it in a closet somewhere?"  
Vincent couldn't help but smile at the idea of Rufus with a fish down his back. Not to mention the praise; he did like the shirt. It was a deep red, the closest he could find to match his eyes. It wasn't perfect, but a normal human (like Yuffie) wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two shades.  
"Thank you. I'm assuming that you want to stay here?"  
"Yeah, actually. Is that okay? 'Cause if it's not okay I can totally go stay with like, Reno or-"  
"You can stay."  
Vincent didn't really like Reno much, let's just say that. Yuffie didn't need any more irresponsible idiots in her life, either.  
"YES! SCORE! EPIC WIN- I mean, er, thanks, Vince." The ninja stopped mid-victory leap and grinned. "So, um, where's my room?"  
"There are countless guest rooms. You can pick one out yourself, I'm sure." He stepped aside, and Yuffie barreled through the door.  
"Thanks again, Vinnie-Vin! If you want I'll make supper."  
Vincent immediatly became slightly wary- Yuffie didn't do well with most recipes. Heck, she could burn salad.  
Actually, now that he thought about it, she'd done that before. _'It just looked like it needed more flavor! Burnt is a flavor!'_  
He smiled at the memory, shaking his head. "I'll do it, Yuffie. I enjoy cooking. In fact, I already started making supper, so I suggest you get settled while I finish."  
"Alright. But tomorrow, I'm makin' Wutain, okay?"  
"Fine. "  
Hopefully her Wutain cooking was better than that burnt salad.

...............................................................................................................................................................................................  
Yes, RFS, wonderful! Write yet another story while you haven't finished at least eight others!  
Le Sigh.  
Oh well. I will try to update this, although I have no freakin' idea where this is going.


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, I figured out what this is about! Yay?

The next morning, Yuffie woke up to the sound of hammers and saws, of workmen shouting orders. Still, the sound was nice. They sounded happy, and she was excited to see Nibelheim restored.  
_Maybe I'll help them out a bit, _She thought absently, and got out of bed.

Vincent had been wakened by the sound as well; the loud banging of tools. He found it unpleasant and distracting. He was perfectly fine with Nibelheim being rebuilt, but did it have to be so damn _noisy_?  
All he wanted was peace and quiet, so he could think and read and do simple things. Things to forget.  
He got up and went downstairs in nothing but a pair of black sweatpants, forgetting that there was a small female ninja in the house.  
He wasn't a noisy cook- while most were perfectly content to just clang their pots and pans against each other, singing at the top of their lungs, he preffered being silent and efficient. Maybe it was the dormant remnants of his Turk training, or maybe it was just him. He'd changed since he was a boy.  
When Vincent was a child, he was happiest in the mud with the other boys, making pies out of sopping wet earth and rolling in filth, laughing at the top of his lungs and coming back to his parents grinning and caked with dried mud and clay. Or running through now vanished woods barefoot, pretending to be an indian or whatever struck his fancy. He and his friends found the pretend games more interesting and amusing than anything else, actually.  
Somewhere during his Turk years, he'd forgotten about that. Maybe it was the first time he'd killed someone, seeing the blank eyes _staring_ at him, and whenever he closed his eyes, he would see the person's face. Maybe it was when Lucrecia had broken his heart and stepped on it, twisting her purple stiletto heel into his chest. Maybe it was when he has ceased to be human, on that cold stainless-steel operating table.  
Somewhere during those events, he'd had to focus on what was real, had to be efficient and quiet if he wanted to survive.

_Momma, pretend is more fun than real things.  
I know, Vincent. But today we have to be serious. Okay?  
But I don't like being quiet.  
I know, Vincent. But during sad times we have to be quiet and real, okay? Sometimes we have to do things efficiently, even though we don't like doing them.  
Okay, Mom.  
Good boy._

Fun came after survival.

Yuffie came downstairs whistling, skipping, and grinning. "Hey, Vinnie-boy! How are ya?" She asked, voice loud and cheery.  
"Indoor voice," Vincent muttered, and she laughed. "Alright, alright, sheesh. I'm not _that_ loud, am I?"  
"My ears are-"  
"Sensitive, yeah, I know. 'Cause of your mystical demon powers. Which, by the way, are SO not as cool as my ninja skills. Okay? Oh, yeah, um, I was wondering if you were helping with the rebuilding process. Are you? 'Cause it seems like they could use some help."  
"I...have not participated directly in the effort, no."  
"Which basically means you're a lazy bum, but okay, Vinnie. Geez, what do you do all day? You need a project, you know. Oh, I know! We could fix up this old place."  
"What's wrong with it?"  
"Well, for one thing, half the doors are creaky, some of the floorboards are crooked and rotting, the wallpaper is faded...the faucet drips, the paint is chipped, we should probably replace all of the wood in case of fire, stuff like that. Basically, the only thing that's good about this place is the foundation and the insulation. We should replace the piping, give the whole place a paint job, and redo the floors, for one thing. And replace some of the antique furniture. Also, you could use new doors on some of the rooms... there's a lot of work."  
"And who is going to pay for all of this?"  
"Well, I'll help. I have a pretty good allowance, you know." She winked, grinning. "Not to mention, there's probably some sellable antiques here and there. Also, you have some money, right? You were a really good Turk, so you must have some cash holed away somewhere."  
He nodded. "True." Actually, the remake would be convenient. He wouldn't have to do much, and he wouldn't have to work his way around small daily nusiances as much.  
"I suppose we could do it."  
"Awesome! Okay, I'll get started planning."  
"You do that."


End file.
